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Travis Pastrana, driving in a Charlotte Nationwide race earlier this season, is hoping for good results this weekend in New Hampshire. Photo by LAT PHOTOGRAPHIC

Pastrana works on improving in Nationwide ranks

July 12, 2012

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Travis Pastrana repeatedly has called stock-car racing the toughest thing he's ever tried, the most challenging discipline he's faced, the most humbling motorsports series he can imagine. And those comments, mind you, came after two pretty decent finishes in his last three NASCAR starts.

Pastrana finished fourth in a K&N Series race in May at Iowa Speedway in Newton and was eighth last month at Langley Speedway in Hampton, Va. But overall, his NASCAR experience has been difficult. He'll try again this weekend, when he runs Saturday afternoon's 200-lap Nationwide Series race at the 1.058-mile New Hampshire Motor Speedway near Loudon.

He began his NASCAR career with a 33rd in last year's K&N West race at Phoenix. He ran the K&N East races at Richmond, Iowa and New Hampshire, and has run this year's races at Bristol; Greenville, S.C.; Richmond; Iowa; Winston-Salem, N.C.; and Hampton. Except for the fourth at Iowa and eighth at Hampton, he's finished between 14th and 33rd.

His Nationwide Series results haven't been much better, finishing between 17th and 26th this year at Richmond, Darlington, Iowa and Charlotte. After this weekend, he'll run the Nationwide races at Chicagoland on July 22, Indianapolis on July 28 and Atlanta on Sept. 1. He'll also do the K&N races at Iowa on Aug. 3, Greenville, S.C., on Sept. 3, back at NHMS on Sept. 22, then Dover on Sept. 28 and Rockingham, N.C, on Nov. 3.

Despite all those the double-digit finishes, the X Games and action-sport star remains as excited and committed to NASCAR as ever. “It's really good,” he said Friday, when asked about his progress. “We started out with four Nationwide events (this spring) and I felt I started out a lot better than I'd expected. Obviously, every driver expects to win when they get out there. I was doing pretty good, then we took a little break and got in some testing.

“We went over what to talk about with the team and felt like, OK, we've been out there a few times, but every track is new to us, every track is different. Everything is a completely different experience. We said, 'OK, where are we behind and where are we weak?' A lot of it was communication, trying to get through practice, learn the tracks and try to set up the car up the event.

“(Loudon) was probably my toughest K&N race last year because I've always been very aggressive. I like to come in hard. I overcharge the corner and over brake, and then get on the gas too soon. The corners here in New Hampshire are very long, so this is one of my biggest challenges. We'll see what happens.”

Pastrana faces a hectic weekend. He ran both Nationwide practice sessions on Friday and was scheduled to run his Global Rallycross heat races later in the afternoon. On Saturday, he'll qualify his Nationwide car in the morning, run the 200-lap, 211.6-mile race in the afternoon and hang around for the Global Rallycross event near sunset, after the Nationwide race.

“The biggest challenge will be qualifying for everything,” he said. “I have [Friday afternoon] practice in the Nationwide car then go directly into GRC qualifying. On Saturday, I qualify and race the Nationwide car, then do the GRC race. As a driver in qualifying, you pick up what you're in and what the differences are. But you have just that initial lap to find the speed. You get two laps and you have to have your fastest lap of the weekend that first lap. It's not ideal, but it's good for me because I do my best when I'm not thinking about stuff, when I just get out there and drive.”

Pastrana, in a Toyota, was 15th-fastest in Friday's first Nationwide practice, at 125.141 mph. Chevy drivers Cole Whitt and Kevin Harvick were fastest at 128.070 mph and 127.915 mph. Brad Keselowski was third in a Dodge at 127.372 mph, then defending series champion Ricky Stenhouse Jr. in a Ford at 127.180 mph and series point leader Elliott Sadler fifth at 126.947 mph in a Chevy. The rest of the top-10: Chevy drivers Austin Dillon (a virtual lock for Rookie of the Year) and Kasey Kahne, Dodge driver Sam Hornish Jr. and Toyota drivers Kyle Busch and Ryan Truex.

In the second session, Pastrana improved to 11th-fastest, at 127.491 mph. Cup driver Busch, at 129.498 mph, led the final session ahead of Harvick (129.243 mph), Kahne (129.151 mph), Hornish Jr. (128.885 mph) and Dillon (128.824 mph). The rest of the top 10 included Brian Scott in a Toyota, Chevy drivers Danica Patrick and Sadler, Stenhouse Jr. and Chevy driver Jamie McMurray.

Teams will qualify Saturday at 10:05 a.m. and run their 200-lap race Saturday at 3:30 p.m. on ESPN.